Why so hard to get rid of unwanted players - MUST READ THREAD

[YKW]

The only part league selection has played on the save provided was that by only having England loaded as an active nation it meant that many of the clubs outside England are inactive, this reduced the number of clubs who were able to consider signing the lad without a work-permit to a very small pool, tbh if a nation isn't selected at the start of the game I'd imagine that the default view of most people should be that the league will be inactive across all areas of the game.

I'm not sure why anyone would think anything different would happen.

I don't believe anyone would think anything different would happen, I'm saying that they aren't even considering it. I know I have played the majority of my FM years without giving it the slightest thought, and then slapped my head when I finally read about it.

In terms of the bolded, I don't think you are quite correct here. I have played England-only games and sold players abroad. That's enough for me to not make the connection. Yes, those offers must have come from clubs who were in Continental competitions that I had active, like the Champions League, but this is only obvious now I know. If Fenerbache buy a player from me and I only have England loaded, then that could easily lead me to believe that an inactive league won't be inactive across all areas of the game.

You are right that the league selection element has only directly impacted one of the 7, although I still think a claim could be made that with more leagues loaded at least some of these players would have been able to be sold (for free). Additionally, my point about the lack of clarity from SI on the effect of league selection also extends to the other 6 transfers because the most common factor between those 6 transfers, that the players aren't interested in the possible clubs, isn't relayed by the game to the user. OP has had the issues explained to him very well, however the game isn't telling him the very logical reasons why he can't get interest for free, so of course his frustrations are understandable. His actions have caused the problem, yes, but his actions (and reaction) were reasonable considering the information on offer to him.

It's clear there is no error with the game, especially considering your thoughtful response, it is just a simple issue of lack of explanation.

[Cougar2010]

Erm, purely because this never used to be the case ...

I have owned every FM since they began

Am I meant to guess my league selection and database size will have an impact upon transfer activity, when beforehand, foreign clubs always showed interest in "good" "performing" players...

Its always been the case, I have also played CM/FM since the very start and was playing around with database sizes & setups 10 years ago.

I have never, ever, loaded any other leagues than just England and never, ever used a small database .... why would I want to restrict the players I can sign / scout / involve in my game

For the reasons you have come across!

Too many players for the number of teams = flooded market = easy picking for buyers = poor selling, its basic stuff.

[Dr. Hook]

Its always been the case, I have also played CM/FM since the very start and was playing around with database sizes & setups 10 years ago.

For the reasons you have come across!

Too many players for the number of teams = flooded market = easy picking for buyers = poor selling, its basic stuff.

That last one is a fair point, but it also levels out over time. It can be harder in the first couple of seasons to sell players but once the game world stabilizes, it isn't so bad. I always have massive player counts/leagues loaded etc. and don't run into selling problems, particularly a few years in when I am at a point to become a selling club.

[Cougar2010]

That last one is a fair point, but it also levels out over time. It can be harder in the first couple of seasons to sell players but once the game world stabilizes, it isn't so bad. I always have massive player counts/leagues loaded etc. and don't run into selling problems, particularly a few years in when I am at a point to become a selling club.

I would agree with that.

Most of the complaints we've seen on the forums have been in relation to the first two or three transfer windows.

[Koennn]

This really made me rethink my initial set-up. Wow, I cannot believe that I did not figure out what the influence of database size and selectable leagues loaded could have on the transfer market. It is very logical, but truth be told, I never considered that some of my problems with selling players could originate there. I always thought it was just me not thinking far enough ahead (which might still be the case, of course).

[Baptista_8]

It is a definite issue and has only been an issue on FM14 and FM15 IMO. Having to sell decent-good players for peanuts just to get rid happens way too often now.

[Lawlore]

This really made me rethink my initial set-up. Wow, I cannot believe that I did not figure out what the influence of database size and selectable leagues loaded could have on the transfer market. It is very logical, but truth be told, I never considered that some of my problems with selling players could originate there. I always thought it was just me not thinking far enough ahead (which might still be the case, of course).

I don't think the implications are made explicit enough- it's very easy to fall into a trap of thinking "well, my computer is pretty good, I can run a large database", whilst only picking a couple of leagues to play in, as you have no intention of managing in any other countries yourself.

The bigger issue is this problem of inactive teams not signing players (and hence, the transfer market being dead). When written out like that it makes sense, but it's not at all realistic. Those teams and leagues do still exist, they do still have champions and qualifiers for competitions (for example, Fenerbahce mentioned earlier in the thread), so really, they need to still have players and some involvement in the transfer market.

Of course, the whole point of having them inactive is so the game can be processed quicker, but that doesn't feel like the correct solution. Perhaps it's more a case of educating people to the benefits of loading more leagues as view-only, if that keeps the transfer market more active and/or realistic?

[Koennn]

I don't think the implications are made explicit enough- it's very easy to fall into a trap of thinking "well, my computer is pretty good, I can run a large database", whilst only picking a couple of leagues to play in, as you have no intention of managing in any other countries yourself.

The bigger issue is this problem of inactive teams not signing players (and hence, the transfer market being dead). When written out like that it makes sense, but it's not at all realistic. Those teams and leagues do still exist, they do still have champions and qualifiers for competitions (for example, Fenerbahce mentioned earlier in the thread), so really, they need to still have players and some involvement in the transfer market.

Of course, the whole point of having them inactive is so the game can be processed quicker, but that doesn't feel like the correct solution. Perhaps it's more a case of educating people to the benefits of loading more leagues as view-only, if that keeps the transfer market more active and/or realistic?

Yeah, I totally agree with you. Someone earlier mentioned displaying whether your current setup would make the transfer market Busy/Normal/Slow. This could be too explicit or unclear depending on how much knowledge you have, but something along those lines would be helpful.

[TheBlade1]

I know this has been mentioned a few times already. But for 'fun' game balance. I have had the most fun experiences and success with trading players with a small database, with more leagues loaded from other countries, I pick the countries I think I am most likely to trade with or fun leagues I like to watch or potentially play in.. Just my thoughts.

[Kriss]

I know this has been mentioned a few times already. But for 'fun' game balance. I have had the most fun experiences and success with trading players with a small database, with more leagues loaded from other countries, I pick the countries I think I am most likely to trade with or fun leagues I like to watch or potentially play in.. Just my thoughts.

Exactly, you need to think a bit about how you want your save to go before selecting.

I decided on a career covering South America starting with one of the worst clubs in Brazil Div3, so loaded medium DB with all of Brazil, Division 1 only of all the other SA countries and Div 1 of Portugal, the transfer market is busy from the off with added bonus of sales and loans across the Atlantic once I've progressed to a Div2 or better club.

[RTHerringbone]

I know this has been mentioned a few times already. But for 'fun' game balance. I have had the most fun experiences and success with trading players with a small database, with more leagues loaded from other countries, I pick the countries I think I am most likely to trade with or fun leagues I like to watch or potentially play in.. Just my thoughts.

Exactly what I do too and I have no issues with selling players as long as I sell them at the right sort of times (as others have said, it tends to be a good idea to try to offload players once your own budget is confirmed).

[HuddersfieldOwl]

But then what is processing time like to process all those fixtures ? and does your news feed not just become completely clogged ?

[Double0Seven]

I have been promoted with my team and have a bunch of players that I want to offload. I have three players who dont seem to sell. They have a bunch of clubs who are "interested", they are on low wages for this league, they have played well and are not old(29 oldest). On top of that they have one year left on their contracts. What is the reason that they are not selling? I even offered them for 0% loan wages and 0 transfer fee.

[CarltonBanks]

But then what is processing time like to process all those fixtures ? and does your news feed not just become completely clogged ?

You, as the player, control 100% of what appears in your news feed. There is zero reason at all to think loading more leagues will "clog up" your news feed.

If you have any sort of modern computer at all, the game isn't going to be slow. I have a CPU that was mid level in 2008 and I can smoothly run 30+ leagues loaded.

[HUNT3R]

I have been promoted with my team and have a bunch of players that I want to offload. I have three players who dont seem to sell. They have a bunch of clubs who are "interested", they are on low wages for this league, they have played well and are not old(29 oldest). On top of that they have one year left on their contracts. What is the reason that they are not selling? I even offered them for 0% loan wages and 0 transfer fee.

Have you been following the thread? There could be many reasons. The teams may not have money. The player may not be interested. The interested teams may have better targets.

[Double0Seven]

I have had a quick look but haven't red all the posts. If the interested teams have better targets why are they still interested?

[HUNT3R]

Then at least read Alex Crawford's posts in the thread.

Why can't they be interested?? They have a shortlist just like you.

[TheBlade1]

But then what is processing time like to process all those fixtures ? and does your news feed not just become completely clogged ?

You can choose what you want to see. That's no problem. If you have a reasonable machine processing time is fine - don't go ballistic and choose all the leagues, as I said earlier just choose the ones you think would trade with you if you think its an issue.

[Vanikain]

Basically op from what I have seen from your posts is your stuck with a bomb squad, players who will happily take a wage from you and no teams that either want or can afford the players.

If you would like a real life scenario take a look at Aston Villa it took ages to get rid of the players from the bomb squad and one even got back into the team it happens clubs wont just go and buy a player they don't need.

I would also like to thank Alex for the explanation as it did clear up a few things for me.

[redhawk]

I think the issue with DB sizes and league loaded having implications on selling players is because the tightening of the transfer market is quite a recent addition to FM, and people are simply selecting the sizes/leagues they always have done prior to FM14. Because selling has only recently become an 'issue' (a welcome one in my opinion), and there was never trouble previously with large DB/small amount of leagues, it is much more logical, and easier, for players to blame the new game than their choice of DB-leagues ratio.

[fabioke]

But then what is processing time like to process all those fixtures ? and does your news feed not just become completely clogged ?

Specs please?

[HuddersfieldOwl]

Specs please?

Why is the text too small ? *cymbals .....

Running a good spec .... 6GB Ram .... dedicated graphics card with extra, 2.7Ghz processor ...

[LEEMOD]

I really enjoyed reading all of this thread, some interesting things were discussed which leads me onto my question.

How does everyone manage their squads, for me it;s something I think is often overlooked, RT Herringbone has a great spreadsheet on his blog on how he does it but do other people have such methods/process.

I'd love to hear from people who may have some ideas

[Guest]

I like to have a core group of 15 who are regular starters, 5 versatile players who are clear backups & have a personality that will not see them be too unhappy at that & a small group of young (18-22) prospects who are good enough to not be embarrassed when they play.

A screen I often use is Squad Depth>By Position, if I have more than 3 players in a position who are all rated at a minimum of 4 stars then I have a problem & will look to move someone on. The one exception is with the keepers where I like to have a clear #1, an reliable, low ambition 2/2.5* #2 & a high potential youngster in the #3 slot.

If there is an active reserve team I tend to keep that to no more than 15 players & will do my best to keep them to 1 or 2 year contracts, if there is no active reserve squad then I will not have any reserve players. The Youth squad will be left to my HoyD to handle, this includes all transfer & contract matters.

[fmfan74]

I really love the way SI come back tell you whats not working when in fact last seasons game release, i had a production of players being bought and sold for a good amount.

What i use to do was buy good quality stock and also out of contract players and sell the in the same season come the end of it. I would keep them for 1 season building up their reputation and most of all the price tag on the player. My aim was to get players in for the new season and sell them come the end. This process obviously made me very rich indeed to the point i raised the clubs economical status in the world game which also raised interest for other players wanting to join my club. I had a lot of fun signing up players who had a value of 5 million whilst they were out of contract. I'd snatch them up fast and sell them come the end of the season for around that value always making a dime.

This season it's not the case and I am not happy about hearing it's the AI all the time. The process i use to use has changed dramatically and i can't make profits like i use to. To sell unwanted players I have to go through a stupid amount of stupid negotiations with other teams. I obviously look at the players i want to get rid off, then let my director deal with them. I also have to most of the times manually add clubs to the players profile to get some interest. So again i have to manually intervene and sort out the BS. Is the AI looking at your players in the first place at all ? may or may not be something not yet concrete to me in this release.

Contract negotiations have been a nightmare for me in this version due to so many changes and obviously i'll get the same response back from SI that it's the AI making deals and acting like a human. Now from what i'm reading SI is saying if the club has the money they will make an offer based on many different scenarios. Really, The english premier leagues profits are rising every year and so does club money. But for some reason teams in lower division will not want to buy a player your selling for 1/3 of his value which again to SI is not a static value.

I'm finding i'm spending a heaps load of time getting rid of players than enjoying the game. I am not asking for easy smooth process but for gods sake when your trying to sell players half price and they are premier league players interest should always be around the corner. OH hang on, did anyone mention Defoe ? Old man now, but still attracts a lot of interest even when playing in america let alone did we forget the likes of Xavi as well.

amazing.

I'm playing vanarama south league at the moment. I"m close towards the end of the season and what i don't like is that i now have 7 players who don't want to re-sign for my team because they are all saying the same story. I also have another 4 staff members not signing up. Tell me what on earth am i suppose to do in this version of the game. I don't play the game for winning championships as a primary goal. I play the game to build up a proper financial budget for my team which was achieved last season. FM16 has really dissapointed me in terms of contractual negotiations. sorry but let the truth be said.

[Guest]

Contract negotiations have been a nightmare for me in this version due to so many changes and obviously i'll get the same response back from SI that it's the AI making deals and acting like a human. Now from what i'm reading SI is saying if the club has the money they will make an offer based on many different scenarios. Really, The english premier leagues profits are rising every year and so does club money. But for some reason teams in lower division will not want to buy a player your selling for 1/3 of his value which again to SI is not a static value.

Why would the huge sums of money at Premier League clubs have any bearing on the money available to lower league clubs? The wealth is not shared out in an equitable manner & what is spent tends to go abroad or to clubs in the top two divisions, by the time you get down to level 5 or 6 of the English pyramid the majority of clubs will have next to nothing to spend on transfer fees & they are reliant on picking up free agents.

Edit: Have you read the entirety of this thread? The OP took the same churn & burn approach to transfers that you have done which is essentially exploiting the game code & SI have continually updated the transfer module to make it more robust so that exploits are harder to use. Think of it in the same way as the ME team coding out the flaws that made diablo such a successful tactic, would you blame them for removing the ME exploit or change your approach to meet the demands of the new match engine?

[LEEMOD]

Why would the huge sums of money at Premier League clubs have any bearing on the money available to lower league clubs? The wealth is not shared out in an equitable manner & what is spent tends to go abroad or to clubs in the top two divisions, by the time you get down to level 5 or 6 of the English pyramid the majority of clubs will have next to nothing to spend on transfer fees & they are reliant on picking up free agents.

Edit: Have you read the entirety of this thread? The OP took the same churn & burn approach to transfers that you have done which is essentially exploiting the game code & SI have continually updated the transfer module to make it more robust so that exploits are harder to use. Think of it in the same way as the ME team coding out the flaws that made diablo such a successful tactic, would you blame them for removing the ME exploit or change your approach to meet the demands of the new match engine?

It's a shame how people can't read, I think both yourself & Alex have gave some awesome answers and I thank you for it

[LEEMOD]

I like to have a core group of 15 who are regular starters, 5 versatile players who are clear backups & have a personality that will not see them be too unhappy at that & a small group of young (18-22) prospects who are good enough to not be embarrassed when they play.

A screen I often use is Squad Depth>By Position, if I have more than 3 players in a position who are all rated at a minimum of 4 stars then I have a problem & will look to move someone on. The one exception is with the keepers where I like to have a clear #1, an reliable, low ambition 2/2.5* #2 & a high potential youngster in the #3 slot.

If there is an active reserve team I tend to keep that to no more than 15 players & will do my best to keep them to 1 or 2 year contracts, if there is no active reserve squad then I will not have any reserve players. The Youth squad will be left to my HoyD to handle, this includes all transfer & contract matters.

Thanks for your reply mate

This is what I do:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/459422-Squad-Management-Ideas-Spreadsheet

[stevio36]

Surely it's not a good idea not to sign players who are not granted a work permit, unless you have a work permit affiliate club that is.

Just taken a quick look at the save, went to your transfer history section first.

2014/15 - Spent: £725,000 Sold: £2.9m

2015/16 - Spent: £1.9m Sold: £17.5m

2016/17 (Jan'17) - Spent: £6.75m Sold: £13.12m

So far getting buyers for your players does not appear to be a problem, I'll take a closer look at individual players at your club & update later.

The Players

I have just looked at players you have transfer or loan listed.

Tom Lees;

He is only willing to play in the Premier League, every other club below that level gets a very clear not interested from him & his agent.

Clubs who are interest or are looking to fill a position that Lees can fill are Burnley (£150k left in budget), Swansea (£78k left) & Derby (925k left)

Srdjan Mijailovic;

This is the lad with no work permit so UK clubs are out, with only having England active there are very few active clubs where a player of his ability will be useful, those who are looking want a better quality player.

Rhys McCabe;

He is only willing to play in the Premier League, Burnley & Swansea would be interested in a transfer if they had the budget but they do not, the other clubs who have a positional need are Liverpool & Everton but he's not good enough to go to either of those clubs

Herolind Shala;

Again he has no interest in dropping down from the Premier League & again the only clubs who need a player like him are Burnley & Swansea, Man City & Everton would also be interested if he was good enough to be in their first team.

Will Keane & Sammy Ameobi;

QPR, Newcastle, West Ham & Sunderland are all looking for a striker but all have identified players who are 15-30 CA points better than both players, Man City & Chelsea are also looking for a first team striker but clearly neither are good enough for them.

Guillaume Hubert;

A poor player by Premier League standards but a useful #3 keeper, he also has no interest in dropping down division while contracted to a Premier league side (he still believes he'll make it) or being a backup elsewhere, QPR would be interested if they had not already found targets who are much better & willing to accept backup squad status.

To be perfectly honest you are doing better than average in terms of bringing in players & getting them moved on when not needed, it does look like your expectations are far too high & as I've mention before it also appears that you're bringing in too many free transfers with the idea of loaning them before selling them for a profit, this is a strategy that you might want to reconsider or at least when doing it bring the players in at a much younger age to give them time to develop.

With all this said there are some further improvements in the pipeline that will help in moving some of these players on when the next update is released.

How do you find all this info out, would certainly help me in the French League

[HUNT3R]

How do you find all this info out, would certainly help me in the French League

He was employed at SI at the time, so was able to see this information with an app/tool that looked under the hood.

[TheRealTactician]

I haven't encountered many issues in getting rid of unwanted players, apart from Adebayor who was also doing his best to destroy squad harmony because i was playing Jerome Sinclair over him. In the end i literally sold him for 10k, i needed those wages.

[Guest]

So weve established why it doesnt work, wrong amount of players, leagues, reputuation too low or too high, wages too high, not wanting to drop down a league, not good enough to go up, clubs dont have money, clubs have better players, clubs dont think they will come, but what circumstances does it work..

Wealdstone. Summer 2026. 11 years at club. 5th in the championship. 2,000k stadium. I think this save covers alot of situations you will encounter. I just typed this out as fast as I could so forgive the spelling and it being a bit all over the place, and its about the last bit of effort I'm willing to put into this, call it my final word cos I give up, Ive waisted more than enough effort on this already, I admit defeat.

46,000 players, no database changes

17 playable leagues

England. France. Germany. Holland. Italy. Spain.

Total transfer activity.

Players bought 1. Value 74k. That was just to do it really.

Players sold 9. Total Value 220k.

4 free transfers season 1.

0 season 2

1 player sold 100k season 3. valued at 4k. Bought by a championship club, intial bid 4k, not sure what they saw in this player, couldnt really get in my non league team. Never played a game for them.

0 season 4

0 season 5

1 free transfer season 6, 1 bid for a key player, under value, rejected. Player unhappy left on a free at the end of the season.

0 season 7

0 season 8

0 season 9

0 season 10.

2 season 11. 1 for 19k, valued at 50k, wanted to leave, offered to clubs.

1 98k non negioatble bid, player valued at 250k, key player, played every match, good performer. Left me 1st in the championship, because he considered them a 'much bigger club' 4th in League 1. Both teams 2.5 * reputation, ranked 3 places above me at the time in the team rankings.

No bids for any of my star performers or AI trying to poach my players.

Key player.

Regen. English. Valued at 110k, AMC, age 24, earning 1.1k a week. 6 seasons at club. Signed when in vanarama national 18 year old.

203 appearances, 52 goals, 47 assists, 25 POM, 7.37 average. Supporters player of the year last 2 year, Sky bet 1 player of the year last year.

inquiries 0, Bids 0, interest 0. Ever.

This theme runs throughout team. Many players like him. Occasional minor interest from league 2 clubs. No bids. 1 or 2 bids in 11 season for players under value, and in installements, the AI generally undervalue buying but over value selling, I have to offer 10 times player value to get them to even start negioating, the AI come in with deriograty offers and are expecting me to say yes, if they even bother at all. This 10 or 20 times value as the seller compared to under 1 times as the buyer is a complete mis match which causes a very stagnant transfer market, added with an AI that has no interest in buying or selling its pretty dull. I dont even bother renewing contracts such is the AIs lack of interest transfer activity or improving their squads.

The thing is, if I leave this club and let an AI manager take over he would be fighting off bids left right and centre, I know this cos I tested this in a previous FM.

The AI seem to treat double the money the same as if its 5k or 5 million, they dont seem to be able to tell the difference and will haggle over a pound the same way they would if it was a million.

Players wage demands too high?, reduce the squad status and they will sign for half the wage.

No interest generally giving players away, sometimes they do but reject wages.

Something is broke with reptuation when my star players playing well can only generate minor interest from clubs 2 leagues below and about to be relgated.

Same with job offers for me, being offered countless job interviews for a team about to be relegated out of sky bet 1 when I'm topping the championship, then getting asked why I rejected the offer.

Countless pointless media questions. 3 times a week, top of the league, asking whether I think we will go up in 1 question, then asked if I think I will stay up the question after. Praised for form one question, critised for it the next. Condtradiction and repetive questions. Every few days.

1,000s of repeated monthly loan offers for players that are already playing in my first team.

Finished 5th in the championship, got beat in the play offs, 2k stadium board wont expand it cos we got so much debt because they already wasted a fortune and numerous pointless expansions getting it to 2k, which means my attendances and stadium in the championship is actually smaller than they were in the conference.

On top of that this year seems to be very goaly. I'm always the leading goalscorer and the worst conceder. Defenders seem so much more underpowered than strikers, I have a hard time finding defenders that have a clue but strikers that can score every shot are everywhere, I think this might be why I have more joy getting rid of defenders over attackers, they are a rare breed. They make loads of mistakes. The amount of goals from kick off, from me and from the AI, first attacks in under 2 mins, very often. One game I win 5-1 the next I lose 5-1. Games seem to be a lottery, either misfiring or firing on all cylinders, I dont even care who I'm playing cos anyone can thrash anyone on their day. To be honest though I stopped caring about conceding so much because I'm always overachieving anyway. I cant believe how bad my form can be at times yet I still somehow find myself hanging about the top of the league, everyone else must have it even worse.

So much immersion breaking stuff in this simualtion that performs much worse as a simiulation than it did a decade ago,

I'm pretty sure if I had picked Mancity, played for 3 seasons messing about with the top 100 players in the game I wouldnt have seen any of these problems, but its complained about often by many players for many years, so whats the point, the game works fine and its user error so lets stop waisting our times moaning about it. I think I'm just done with this game.

[bestbrother]

I could sell a 1 legged donkey on FM and have been told off in another thread for selling too many players

I do run the game with a 70k+ player DB with all the top European Leagues playable (top division only) and then my league (all divisions) dependent on where I start. So maybe that has a bearing on it all idk

The transfer market is my favorite part of the game, so any dramatic changes to make it stricter/harder would probably ruin my experience. What I like is the option is there to play it how you choose and not be forced down a route.

i appreciate im probably late to the party on this thread, but still, i have saves where I have shifted a player earning 600k per week, who has been sat in my reserves for 4 years doing nothing... the AI do take on players, just have a little patience sometmes.

[Guest]

Yeah, but like I said pick a super club, play with superstars for half a dozen seasons and watch the game work like a charm, try it any other way and then it might not.

[themadsheep2001]

I could sell a 1 legged donkey on FM and have been told off in another thread for selling too many players

I do run the game with a 70k+ player DB with all the top European Leagues playable (top division only) and then my league (all divisions) dependent on where I start. So maybe that has a bearing on it all idk

The transfer market is my favorite part of the game, so any dramatic changes to make it stricter/harder would probably ruin my experience. What I like is the option is there to play it how you choose and not be forced down a route.

i appreciate im probably late to the party on this thread, but still, i have saves where I have shifted a player earning 600k per week, who has been sat in my reserves for 4 years doing nothing... the AI do take on players, just have a little patience sometmes.

With a good setup, I find it harder not to sell my players when rising through the leagues, though I find it's definitely about timing it right with promotions, and making sure players who might be harder to shift get game time. I have strong wage controls, tbh, so their lower demands makes it easier to shift them. But also harder to keep.

[bestbrother]

Yeah, but like I said pick a super club, play with superstars for half a dozen seasons and watch the game work like a charm, try it any other way and then it might not.

With Bari, I sold all but 2 players in one off-season. I think 6 left out of contract and i sold 14-15 players. Some were originals from Serie B (this was end of the 2nd season). Some I had just signed the season before... some had been sat in the stiffs for 2 years.

I just select all of those I want rid of, offer them out as per the games default setting and generally get bids. Those who dont, I ask them to speak to clubs, give it a couple of days and offer them out again.

I suppose each game is different, but I dont think there is any underlying problem with being able to sell players.

[Guest]

I'm an LLM & have no issue, most of the time I'm at a level where there's no money but when I do get a decent player there is interest in them from the bigger clubs who will at times look to force my hand with a decent offer & as I move up to higher levels I've yet to have any problems with my better players not being signed by bigger clubs or being unable to find buyers for my unwanted players who will have a value to other clubs.

One tip I've found useful is when you are unable to find a buyer for an unwanted player open up the make offer page for a player at clubs in a division that you think your player is likely capable of playing at, when you do this if the club are looking to sign a player there is a box that tells you what positions they are looking for. From there I can see what clubs have a need for the player I'm selling, also worth getting a team report to make a judgement on whether your player is better than what they have then I check the club & league transfer history to see what sort of money is being spent at that level & from there I can get an idea about what value the player is likely to fetch.

As for your experience there might be something you're doing to make your players less appealing to a potential club, you're doing something tactically that is getting level of performance out of your players that is significantly above their perceived ability & the form isn't enough for AI clubs to overlook that lower perceived ability or you're overpaying your players for the level that can otherwise play at. Those are just guesses, the only way to possibly make a better assessment is if it was my save & even then it would be a an assessment based on experience as only SI have access to additional tools that can tell them why your players are not generating the level of transfer interest that you want to see or if your expectations are unrealistic.

[Wells]

While managing in lower league putting players on transfer listed will attract no interest from any club at all, I have to offer the player to clubs and the funny thing is I have to offer $0 or lets say not a single cent.. if not, no interest. This needs an improvement to be honest.

[Guest]

Lower league clubs are pretty restricted due to a lack of funds therefore they're already looking at free agents who will likely have lower value contract demands than a player who is already contracted to a club.

Take a look at real life lower league transfers to see how many direct club to club transfer there are in real life.

[Guest]

I also dont think the only way to get rid of a player should be to offer him for free, or even offer him at all. Why does the AI not spot that a player is worth buying anymore? Older FMs star players, players out of favour, good performers, good potential attracted AI clubs, now it seems unless you force a player out the door he aint going anywhere, and even then he wont go.

Ive gone from Van South to the championship, just missed out on the prem in the playoffs. I'm no longer a LLM, 11 seasons and basically zero of my players who have proven at least at some stages in their career to be playing at a lower level than they should attract interest, so when it gets to the point the club out grow these players, they no longer can play at the level we are at and are now unhappy and want to leave they got even less chance of going anywhere. If nobody wanted them when they were too good for me and the only way is up, they certainly arent going anywhere when their only option is down and theres even more reasons they cant leave.

Alot of these players have followed me up the leagues, so basically every kind of situation is covered, far too good for me at one point with a potential to play much higher, maybe not quite as good enough the higher I go. They perform well because they are too good for me many seasons, but eventually the club gets too big for them, the swing has no effect. Its part of the reason I keep the players up to that point, cos at no stage inbetween did they attract any interest. Obviously performances have no influence what so ever. But they still at some points these players are too good for me, some become not good enough, as the smallest club in the league on the lowest wages in the league, the options should be pretty big.

They are still on very low wages both ways. I over take clubs in lower leagues that are bigger than me, so the options for these players should be high. Low wages at low club, performing well, with many clubs below, above and everywhere that could be an option.

At some points these players have potential to play higher. Eventually the club out grow them to the point they can only go lower. I see both situations but none makes a difference. These players are unwanted, have been since the day they were generated which must be how I signed them with no competition in the first place. These players must have hidden stats that the AI have no interest in,

The amount of times you have to rebuild your squad when you try to rise through the leagues, thats another thing, only once in 11 years has a player I tried to sign not come to me, all the rest were me being the only person interested, the AI didnt see what I saw in them. I dont want a cheap mechanic like possibly it may have been in previous years where it seemed the AI suddenly come flying in with bids just cos you have, and otherwise had zero interest but sometimes it feels like I'm the only team in the world. Thats never used to happen.

My players are on far less wages than the players in teams around them, they could earn more in the league below, obviously too good for the club, young english players, they have never attracted interest. On previous FMs I'd be fuming that my best players are constantly being poached, worried about minimum release clauses, on the recent FMs, this being the worst one cos at least they poached them when there contracts ran out. I dont even care about release clauses cos the AI wont get anywhere close to that.

I see when I scout a player a similar to what I have but with a low team role status my scout is telling me I'm going to need to bid 30 times more than value, they even tell me I cant afford this player, the AI in return dont have a clue with a human, which I think puts them off altogether, or some reason makes them believe they can offer a lot less than what they are worth.

I got a player valued at 100k, keyplayer, performing out of his skin, undervalued cos he should be higher, (its just not very dynamic when you climb the leagues). The AI bid 50k, and a few k over 12 months, which I guess they think is an offer I cant refuse, its a great deal. I got the sense not to even waste the time making a bid like that for an AI player. Its a nonsense bid. Thats not the AI being clever, thats just broken.

They have a player who cant get in their squad valued at 100k, they want 3 million. Which to me I'm not arguing about, I think makes sense, they know how to sell, just have zero IQ when it comes to buying. They dont want to sell him so its going to take a good bid to get him, this fact is lost on the AI when it comes to bidding.

I would snap the AIs hands off if they made bids for my players like they reject from me, and on the otherside of the coin they make bids for my players I cant even take seriously and neither would they if I did it to them.

Basically playing 11 seasons, just missing out of the prem, feeling like a club in a bubble climbing up the leagues, as the AI turn a complete blind eye to you and your players, whether you are desperate to keep them or wouldnt mind getting rid, each one is staying till they retire or contract runs out, without fear of minimum release clauses, contracts running out, AI poaching, buying any players, selling any players, hasnt been the most thrilling 11 seasons I ever had on FM, add that to the most dull nonsense game mechanic ever invented Media interviews every 3 days I think I'd rather take up knitting.

[Guest]

Until FM15 the AI never looked at player form when setting its transfer targets, your posts do contain a lot of incorrect assumptions & errors in how you think the game used to work.

The transfer AI is significantly more sophisticated than as recently as FM12 or 13 & is lightyears ahead of the early FM's & CM games.

Edit: What version are you playing? For some reason it's just popped into my head that I've seen you mention that you're playing an older version although I could be confusing younwith someone else.

[Guest]

FM16. Well maybe they didnt look at performance if thats the code, and why did it take that long to add that anyway? It kind of sounds important to me that this should be a factor well before 2015 and all the other nonsense they added over it.

But either way, its not about whether it does or it doesnt, the biggest point is it felt like it did, and now it doesnt feel like it does at all, which is more important as simulation, I went into details of my save further up, it certainly doesnt play sophiscated, so it can be sophiscated as it wants. It doesnt feel like they take performance into comsideration at all now, even though its now in the code, so thats kind of strange, the less sophiscated one seems to feel and perform much more believable however it did it. So theyve obviously changed it the last two year and now some peoples saves you cant give your players away. That would raise a few questions for me if I was incharge.

I guess the phrase simple but more effective might have been the case, too complicated it doesnt work, where before it maybe it cheated to give the effect or however it did it but was more believable, cos it isnt clever enough to do it without, cos in older fms keeping hold of your stars was a constant battle, now you play without fear.

and what is the other alot of incorrect assumptions?

And anyway I'm not arguing with you, I'm not really bothered anymore, just wanted to have my say on transfer market, it might be the best most sophiscated code ever made by human hands, the most perfect transfer system to ever be created, or that some people will have no problems whatsoever, I dont disagree, it doesnt change the fact Ive gone 11 seasons almost from bottom to top, with players that I dont care what the reasons are why the code say they shouldnt, simply in reality should have attracted some interest whether I wanted to sell them or not, and in all that time got one bid for one player that wasnt insulting. And he was so bad couldnt even get into my team I havent found it very convincing.

[Guest]

The only recommendation I can make is if you have any save points at times when you felt players should have generated interest them please provide details in a bug report & upload a copy of the save to SI's FTP server.

Now that you've had your say & had it a few times I trust you've got your frustrations out of your system.

[Guest]

I'm not frustrated, I got my moneys worth out of the game, cant complain about value for money, you never can really, I just have an opinion on it after buying the game and playing it for 11 season, which I wanted to share, sorry it isnt entirely positive. It might sound that I'm annoyed, but I guess that must be just the way I type Need to put more of those in I think,

wouldnt it be more boring if it was just thread of thread of this is the best game ever, thanks SI.

I get that people are very, very defensive of this game, a little over the top to be honest sometimes, people even go through your post history looking for ways to discredit your opinion if its negative, to defend the game, its very dedicated. If you got a problem with the game, its either user, or you mustnt own it basically

But anyway dont worry, Ive done that now, said what I wanted, and I promise I'm done. I'm never going to mention it ever again.

[Guest]

You should see the number of issues that are raised by us in our section of the forum, the most critical & prolific bug reporters are us Mods. We & SI actually try to encourage critical opinions & we're here to stop folk going overboard with insults or being a broken record with the same post time & time again, it's why I always suggest that people encountering issues start engaging with SI via the bugs forum.

[rumpelstiltskin]

I'm looking at the transfer market/system with mixed feelings, too. I definitely wouldn't call it broken, none of that, but it feels very flat and not very dynamic at all. In my current save I'm playing Bayern, just finished the sixth season. 12 or 13 playable leagues (top euro leagues + Arg/Bra).

In those six years I have been able to sell 1 (one) player for 150% of his value, that's a absolute maximum. The players have one the Champions League twice, made it to the finals two more times, obviously won the Bundesliga every season, all my players get lots of playing time, ratings 7.5-8.20 average with a few outliers ... nonetheless over six years not a single "yes, we really want that guy and mean" bid from Real, City or PSG. Lots of joke bids, though, but as soon as I start to negotiate up (never asking for more than 200% of value) it's "bye, bye ... we're not paying more". On the other hand if I want to buy it's 200% of value at the very least in the vast majority of cases (I know I can play the unsettling game, but it's very boring to me)

Also when I look at the world transfer stats ... only very few marquee transfers over the last six years, even though club values have skyrocketed.

So yeah, transfers are certainly serviceable, but that's pretty much about it. Feels often like a chore, because unless you play unsettle-the-player you have to pay a lot more for signings then you can expect from sales.

[pheelf]

I'm looking at the transfer market/system with mixed feelings, too. I definitely wouldn't call it broken, none of that, but it feels very flat and not very dynamic at all. In my current save I'm playing Bayern, just finished the sixth season. 12 or 13 playable leagues (top euro leagues + Arg/Bra).

In those six years I have been able to sell 1 (one) player for 150% of his value, that's a absolute maximum. The players have one the Champions League twice, made it to the finals two more times, obviously won the Bundesliga every season, all my players get lots of playing time, ratings 7.5-8.20 average with a few outliers ... nonetheless over six years not a single "yes, we really want that guy and mean" bid from Real, City or PSG. Lots of joke bids, though, but as soon as I start to negotiate up (never asking for more than 200% of value) it's "bye, bye ... we're not paying more". On the other hand if I want to buy it's 200% of value at the very least in the vast majority of cases (I know I can play the unsettling game, but it's very boring to me)

Also when I look at the world transfer stats ... only very few marquee transfers over the last six years, even though club values have skyrocketed.

So yeah, transfers are certainly serviceable, but that's pretty much about it. Feels often like a chore, because unless you play unsettle-the-player you have to pay a lot more for signings then you can expect from sales.

I see no problem with what you have mentioned, that's pretty much spot on for Bayern Munich in my opinion. Bayern are a 'buying' club therefore you aren't going to get many offers from other clubs for your players. Realistically, how many teams in the world could afford to not only pay the transfer fees given the value of your players but pay their wages after they transfer.

I'd wager very few and if you are trying to sell to the elite who already have top players for the position you are selling them they aren't going to splash the cash because they don't really need the player. Especially if he only offers a nominal improvement over who they have already which tends to be the case with the majority of transfers between the elite clubs (exceptions being players like Cristiano Ronaldo).

Additionally, of course smaller clubs are going to try and gouge you as Bayern are rich and they want to extract as much money as they can from you. For the selling club, if a club as big as Bayern are interested in a player then we tend to be talking about a once in a generation player for them if they are (or could become) good enough to play for Bayern. So it makes perfect sense for them to start the negotiations with outrageous prices but that is only the start and you shouldn't give in so quickly.

Even though you don't want to play the 'unsettling' game as an elite club you pretty much have to unless you want to constantly pay way over the odds for players. You need to bypass the clubs wishes who obviously don't want to sell for cheap an irreplaceable player for them. Bayern have exceptional pulling power but you don't appear to be using that clout at all, you can't not use the most powerful weapon you have in transfer negotiations and then complain about how you can't buy players for less than 200% of their value because you can but just can't be bothered (how much of an effort is it really?).

[Hwithyll]

Reading some of these replies is infuriating.  

There is obviously a problem with the transfers and contracts. It needs refining. There is no doubt about it.

Players, agents and Bill, Bob and Ted are all too rigid in their expectations of more and more money. There is no compromise and therefore no fluidity or realism.

Two seasons in as Preston manager and I have so many examples of contract/agent stupidity!!!

First...Aiden McGeady - joined Preston on loan in real life but would never happen in FM as it currently stands. Absolutely no compromise on wages - NONE. I couldn't loan him again for 2nd season without ridiculous wage demands being asked by EVERTON for a player rotting in reserves. They would be biting my hand off to cover even half his wage!  His first season on loan was immense and he lit up the league however due to complete inflexibility on wage demands he went back to Everton, spent a full season in reserves and now is unemployed. What a waste! No valid club in Europe could afford to loan/buy him. 

Second....  After every season my players start kicking off wanting new deals. This is ok apart from the ridiculous demands being asked. At first I though this is a good portrayal of the football manager but now after 2 seasons I see the truth - it's broken. The demands are over 100% of their existing contract - which further exacerbates the underlying problem of players being priced out of the game! I signed Ashkan Dejagah in place of the self excluded Mcgeady. He was on 17k p/w. after one season he demands a new contract. He's only been playing for 12 months and has 2 years left to go. I tell him no and he kicks off! I relent and speak to the agent, he demands a whopping 30k p/w. I try to negotiate 24-28k p/w, he flatly refuses. He demands a transfer and ends up signing a contract worth 14.5k p/w at a french club. WTF?  I offered him 25k and a first team place in a premiership campaign????  RIDICULOUS. The agent has made player join a lesser club for less money in a lesser division.

Selling players..... What a joke!  Eoin Doyle becomes league 2 top scorer while on loan. His wage was 5k p/w approx and I struggled to get rid, John Welsh, Vadid Hambo, Ben Pringle, Andy Boyle, Callum Woods, Paul Caddis - received 920k combined and I'm probably still paying % of their wage!

More flexibility and compromise is needed in agent negotiations. 

On the last note - I just saw Raheem Sterling on loan list... I couldn't get to transfer section quick enough.  They only want a 14 million pound fee and his 150k a week wage paying in full every week ...... LOL.

To say contracts/agents/fees doesn't need refining and relaxing a bit is an insult to my intelligence.